We already live in a low-dystopian society. Multinational corporations fuck over the environment and exploit workers on the daily, the media keeps large swathes of the population whipped into political fervor with false stories, lies, half-truths, and general bullshit, the social and political divides are greater than they have ever been, and we're only a hairsbreadth from corporations owning people.

Oh, and hilariously, while most media…comics, films, television shows, novels, etc made it seem like the cause of dystopia would be right-wing religious authoritarianism, the complete opposite has happened…the far-left socialist authoritarians have taken over western society via mass media, post-secondary education, and silicon valley tech sectors.

Today's era of emerging low-life high-tech life standards is more of a clusterfuck for me. It's not a world governed by a small group of like-minded individuals, but rather a deeply fragmented one, with various different interest groups fighting each other and causing great suffering to innocent bystanders.

I did it for them for the simple reason medium is a trash publication that I've known to drop pages when they no longer serve their agenda.

>Far-left socialist… multinational corporations?

Yes, at least that seems to be the case with big tech and media corporations. They primarily bias a hard left narrative. Anything contrarion is derezzed or surpressed. These people are just globalist technocrats who want to be on the top and never have to suffer sharing a room with a mere pleb.

Virtually every major multinat and NGO is pushing for globalist agendas like open borders, reducing the power of the nation-state, promoting degenerate and fringe sexual identities, dismantling localized cultural norms in favor of a prefabricated "world citizen" identity, and so on. Nowadays these are positions typical for self-described "socialists" and "leftists", even though they're really just marching to the tune that's played for them by the institutions that own them.

We're living in very strange times. The left/right dichotomy doesn't really work anymore. The real question now is globalism vs. the nation-state. In a way, cyberpunk fiction in the 80s predicted this, but we were all so caught up in the 20th century's political status quo that it didn't really become apparent until recently.

For a fun time, look up the WTO riots in Seattle. The "left" and the "right" unified to protest globalization. That hasn't really happened since because both movements have been subverted and made to fight each other.

Don't forget though that it's far left in social issues only, economics are as capitalist as ever, except of course when using the state to control the masses either through the police state or through handouts

how else can you describe the utility of allowing hordes of middle aged high health-risk sub 70 IQ goblins entering high-tek zones? even suggesting that a barrier to them or dangerous contraband out as inhumane? unless you are being paid by the drug cartels I can find no other justification for it. how else can society justify literal breeding programs for sub 60 IQ goblins who sperg kill between the age of development is between 13-65? psychotic is the only word to describe this.

There is a fundamental disconnect in most critical writing about cyberpunk fiction. Most of the hacks who get paid pennies to scribble 4000 marketable words re cyberpunk are poorly informed. They can make perfunctory genuflections at the idol of William Gibson, but they haven't really done much reading.

Long before William Gibson started writing Neuromancer, there was a thriving literary movement trying to produce neo-noir sci-fi. William Gibson eventually joined that movement and threw out the label "cyberpunk," and by dumb luck he was rewarded far beyond the scope of his actual contribution. William Gibson did not invent cyberpunk so much as he took credit for neo-noir.

As a result, people ignore the fact that neo-noir science fiction is the larger sci-fi context within which cyberpunk flourished.

Many of the technologies required for cyberpunk have failed to materialize, notably neural interfaces and high-quality implantable prosthetics. Many of the technologies that would have been required for a fully cyberpunk world do exist, but have been repressed more harshly than Gibson ever imagined (see the War on Drugs).

Finally, some technologies evolved in ways that Gibson had no inkling of. 3-D printing, crypto-currency, and copyright infringement through BitTorrent are all part of the real world, but Gibson didn't imagine them. So, the article is wrong to say "cyberpunk is now." Perhaps we could say "neo-noir is now" but that is so vague that one shouldn't even bother to say it.

Gibson didn't invent the term "cyberpunk." It was coined by Bruce Bethke, who used it as the title for a short story he wrote in 1980: https://archive.is/4FbOA

What Gibson did invent was the term "cyberspace", which had never been used before. Gibson was the first to reference a space "inside" the computer, to represent the network itself as a physically accessible place. This is what caught the imagination of a much wider audience and what really lent to cyberpunk's cultural impact in the mid 80's through the mid 90's.

I think anyone with an honest interest in cyberpunk understands (or at least, they should understand) that it's a subset of the neo-noir or tech-noir genre. Most of the time people misusing the term are normies that only pay attention to it because it's a cultural fad.

>Finally, some technologies evolved in ways that Gibson had no inkling of. 3-D printing, crypto-currency, and copyright infringement through BitTorrent

Gibson did predict 3-D printing (it's a plot-relevant technology in the Bridge trilogy), and he did describe a world in which digital currencies had replaced physical ones (although arguably this is more a reference to the rise of credit/debit cards than any truly digital currency).

Nope, you're saying that they somehow are using state wrong, which is retarded. You literally contradicted yourself by claiming "world is as capitalist as ever except when it doesn't and instead implements leftism" because then it's not fucking capitalist, you dumb dipshit, and you only did that to support your degenerate false equivalency.

Not really,lots of people all the way back in the 90's were warning about companies trying to co-op social causes, the whole "we got your revolution for sale". Problem is the leftard NPCs took that dick in the ass and are asking for more.

I wouldn't say the right is the same. It not only got bolder, but also more radical, and most notably - more hip. Just look at the 2016 elections. It's been discussed to death, but with leftist control of institutional media, the kids in MAGA hats are now the edgy rebels, not the ones with dyed hair and piercings and ripped jeans.

I think I probably should have realized how fucked things were a decade ago when Henry Rollins said on the matter of Punk music being used in commercials "Nobody sold out. We have arrived. We are 'The Man' now, and that's good!"

No. No it isn't. Every time that corporations and governments and society at large gets a hold of something "edgy" they round it all over and distort it to fit what they want. It just becomes a softer cudgel to beat people with. And considering the current state of punk rock…corporatized, defanged, declawed, and unchallenging of mainstream social narratives…shit's pretty fucking bad.

>Thats how it used to be, specially in the cold war. But now? name me one openly alt-right supporting billionaire or corporation.

Donald Trump. He's been supporting fringe right-wing politicians for quite some time now. And he's both a billionaire and the president now.

Robert Mercer and his family openly support alt-right.

Peter Thiel is more libertarian than alt-right, same's with the Koch Brothers. And I think it was Andressen (from a16z venture capitalist fund) who defended Milo Yiannopoluos on Twitter is generally anti-lefty.

There's also much more conservative and tranditional Republican supporters among corporations, and even more among billionaires (You're definitely right in saying that pride and wommen empowerement is trendy now, so I guess some millionaires simply support right-wing movements individually, rather through corporate means just to avoid backlash).

Alt-right public speakers are petty and childish so I can understand why they don't have that much support.

if you are stupid enough to think that Trump supports the Alt-right then you're a fucking idiot. Do you think CNN has a lick of honesty in their reporting? I'm sure you think there's a huge increase in anti-minority attacks because of trump too, you fucking retard.

I think anyone who could read the writing on the wall knew this was all destined. I was in Jr high when when I realised this just with the curve in trends technology had caused. I'm in my mid 30s now.

Honestly, between me and you anon. I could not be happier.

In this cyberpunk future we have so many resources available the problem is not that we don't know what to do with it but most people are not creative enough to use the tools this wonderful age has granted us! Any determined cyberpunk can turn a raspberry pi into a remotely accessable spying platform with functionality that would make Q's eyes like up like a kid on chrismas morning. Access to affordable miniturised high percision machining tools to make any type of weapon you can design or look up. Access to dark marketplaces for chemicals at Rock bottom price. This gives the advrage nightmare mode cyberpunk all the tools they would ever need to do anything… To fight back or go on the attack or live free in-between the cracks of the old world when the new world steam rolled over it.

If your really that sick of it all just go the techrejecter route and start building and deploying EMPs. Suites me just fine, chaos gives me more room to operate.

If you actually look into the reported upon hate attacks, you can find that later investigation has resulted in findings that the supposed victims often created the attacks themselves, for attention, for money(patreon, donations, etc), and for exposure. Of course, as the old saying goes, A lie makes its way halfway around the world before the truth has even put its' pants on. And in true modern media fashion, there are no retractions issued, no apologies made, no admission of guilt. A thousand outlets report on the supposed hate crime and maybe twelve report on the eventual findings that it was all a hoax.

You're a fucking blind fool if you're too stupid to look into it and just believe it because MUH WACISS TWUMP NARWATIVE.

Cowards like you are the reason liberals are voting for conservative politicians in record numbers. "Question everything" turned into "Believe the victim". "Fuck the status quo" turned into "only if it's against ultra-progressivism".

The political left is dying and you have only your own stupidity to blame. Fuck team sports.

I'm talking about real hate crimes - murders and terrorist attacks - not Jussie Smollet-type of "attacks". People like the guy who sent pipe bombs to Trump opponents.

And as I said, it's not just Trump. It's not like it was all nice and colorful until Trump came - the current political climate both in the US and in Europe was influenced by years of recession, bad politics, rising inequalities and open borders. The problem is that politicians that promised solutions (Trump, Orban, both May and Corbyn in the UK, etc.) are fucking terrible. Trump is extremely self-centered and in most cases it seems like he doesn't really know what he's doing and now he embraces some policies just to appease right-wing media that he listens to and watches. His tweets and statements really inspire some deranged lunatics to commit acts of violence.

Are there people like that on the other side of the fence? Sure there are. Radical feminists, "activists" and, as you said, people that fake attacks for publicity should be persecuted when they break the law.